A note before I start, this is for everyone, not just Racers, but there will occasionally be spots that cater to them more than other people, but don’t let that keep you from reading it because the audience is still EVERYONE!! 
If there was one thing I could tell all the Racers presently on the field and all future Racers for all time it would be this… don’t let anything on the field steal your joy; find the good in all things. Yes, there will be hard times with teammates, there will be hard times with ministries that aren’t fun or contacts that might be challenging, you will certainly see and experience a lot of extremely hard things from children/families in extreme poverty to working in a red light district to kids living on the street destroying their lives by sniffing glue and other toxins/drugs to dozens of other examples of injustice that exist around the world. You will live in extremely tough conditions, you might not always eat well or eat foods you want, and you certainly won’t be comfortable very often. I got home and I was like, that was an extremely HARD year of my life, but it was ALL worth it. I mean, we serve a GOOD God, right?! So if God is ALWAYS GOOD then what about the hard times? There is always good in the hard times. The situation might not be good, but you’re living, right? You got a working body, right? You got a voice to praise the Lord? You have a Lord and Savior who loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, not for anything you have done, but because of what He did and because He wants YOU… He wants to spend eternity with YOU! That should be enough to live each day and see the joy in everything.
Unfortunately, I didn’t always heed this word of wisdom I am giving you. My hardest months personally were the ones where I didn’t choose joy, where I couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t see the good in all the hardship around me, whatever those hardships were. My last month was actually my hardest month by a long shot, it wasn’t even close, BUT I would never call it my hardest month because I always chose joy, I always chose to see the good, I gave all I had and God continued to give me more. God honored my choice every day to choose joy, to take the hardships and lay them at the foot of the cross and then continue following Him into whatever hardship lay ahead that day (if any). And in spite of all the hardships that came along that last month, because I chose joy it was one of my best months while I was living it. I enjoyed each day and lived each moment for the Lord and with joy.
A few Scriptures to chew on…
Rom. 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer…”
1 Thess. 5:16-18 – “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Phil. 4:4-6 – “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God…”
I think those verses are pretty explicit about our calling… “Rejoice in hope”, “Rejoice always… this is the will of God for you”, “Rejoice in the Lord always…” What are we doing as followers if Jesus if we are not rejoicing and living into the joy of the Lord each and every moment of each and every day? I’m not saying it’s easy; it’s NOT. It is not easy to always have a smile on your face or an encouraging word on your lips or thoughts filled with Christ. This life is not easy; the World Race is not easy. It wasn’t meant to be easy, but it was meant to be GOOD.
One last note: Did anyone else notice a theme amongst all three of these passages? One thing is paired in each passage with joy… anyone… anyone… Bueller… someone got it yet???
PRAYER!!!
That’s right, prayer is always coupled with joy, at least in these passages, and I believe it’s true in life. “Rejoice in hope… be constant in prayer…”, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing…”, “Rejoice in the Lord always… in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” I think that ultimately shows where our joy should come from and how we remain joyful every day. We receive joy when we are in communion with the Father: when we pray, when we dive into His Word, when we spend time in His creation focusing on Him and His creativity. When we take time to “hang out” with God, when we spend time with Him we will always find joy because we will take His joy upon us from the time we have spent with Him. Again, it’s not always easy, excuses abound, but it is simple. “The joy of the Lord is your strength…” (Neh. 8:10). So take joy everyone, spend time with the Father, whatever you may be dealing with in your life, find joy, it’s God’s desire for every moment of your life.
